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    You are here Home » culture

    Culture is King

    Last updated on Mar 30, 2017 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    Guest post By Dr. Linda Sharkey:

    “Our
    customers are important to us. Please stay on the line for the next available
    representative.”  The irony of this
    message sinks in after the first five minutes on hold. During the next five
    minutes, it becomes clear the values of the organization are aligned around
    cost savings—with the naive hope you’ll ignore their actions and believe their
    words.  Thankfully, there are
    organizations that are a delight to do business with, where employees go out of
    their way to help you—and help each other. This atmosphere makes you want to
    jump for joy and figure out how to clone the whole experience.


    WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?



    The
    difference in these two scenarios is culture. And cultural innovation should be
    a top priority for your company. No doubt you have probably experienced workplaces
    where

    managers
    yelled at their teams. People keep their heads down to  avoid doing something wrong and, as a result,
    avoid doing something right. The culture of these places tamps down good ideas
    instead of bringing out the best in people.


    What about
    your organization? Have you ever had someone tell you that your idea wasn’t
    good, and then share it as their own? Or say he wants creativity and
    innovation, only to criticize every new perspective?

    Good ideas
    are regularly squashed, never to see the light of day. You get the sense your
    boss really does not want good ideas that don’t originate from him. So, as the
    employee, you stop and you do as you are told. You know the written rules of
    the company really are not true and that your place is to be quiet, follow
    orders, and survive if you can.

    Here is a
    real example from a leader I have worked with that depicts the situation
    mentioned above. While I was coaching this leader, he vented that his staff
    lacked creativity. He said, “they never have any good ideas
    when I ask
    for them. They just look at me blankly. It’s so frustrating.”

    When we
    interviewed his team the picture became clearer. He sent the message to his
    employees that he really didn’t want ideas from them. He only wanted his own
    ideas. They shared how they wasted lots of time and energy in coming up with
    new ideas just to see them go nowhere.

    When the team
    feedback was shared with the leader he was shocked and did not believe it. He
    actually thought he had a lazy and uninspired staff. The staff definitely was
    not lazy or uninspired, just extremely frustrated. The boss was creating a

    culture of
    low accountability and complacency and did not even know it.  This leader thought he valued others ideas but
    his behavior telegraphed he did not!  If
    this scenario sounds familiar to you as a leader or as a team member you are creating
    or working in a toxic culture.  Maybe you
    don’t have a boss yelling at you which is toxic enough but you have a boss who
    is holding you down!

    Cultures that
    are toxic by their very nature are not innovative. People in these toxic
    organizations lay low, stay out of trouble, and rarely step forward with an
    innovative idea or recommendation. If you’re not purposely investing in a
    healthy culture, your
    business is
    already declining, whether you realize it or not.


    VALUES AND CULTURE CONNECTION



    Culture is
    rooted in values. Not the ones on the posters in the hallways but in the values
    that really shape the practices of the organization.

    Notice the
    beautiful value statements on the walls: We are a team. We work to bring great
    solutions to our customers. Our people are our most important asset. Integrity
    is our core. But when you ask for help you get bounced around.


    Bersin and Associates reviewed 6,000 companies
    on Glassdoor representing more than 2.2 million employees. They discovered, as
    did we, that culture and company values were the biggest driver of a company’s
    brand. Our own study of over 500 Fortune 1,000 companies showed that culture
    and values statistically had the greatest impact on the company’s brand and
    market performance, followed by coaching.

    Culture is
    also key to a satisfied workforce. In another 2014 study by Glassdoor they
    uncovered what people really cared about. Culture
    and values. Regardless of income, Glassdoor found these two factors to be the
    top predictors of employee satisfaction. 
    And as people earned more, culture and values became even more
    important.
      Today employees move
    around a lot more, and one key driver of why they come to your company is the
    values you represent and live.  For
    millennials, culture and values is far more powerful. It is the hidden
    underbelly that makes people want to work for you and stay.


    TOXIC LEADERS, TOXIC CULTURE



    We’ve all
    experienced the toxic leader and we know how demoralizing that can be.
      But the worst part of having toxic leaders is
    that they drive a toxic culture.
      Once a
    culture embeds toxic behaviors and values – it takes forever to change.
       Interesting
    enough, you can change leaders quickly but cultures are so powerful that they
    suck the new leaders into quicksand of the old patterns and behaviors.
        The
    new leaders either leave or they adapt.
     
    Changing a toxic culture is hard, takes lots of time, energy and money
    that most organizations don’t have the luxury of today.

    GETTING THE CULTURE RIGHT


    Here’s five
    actions you must take to be sure your culture shines in the eyes of employees
    and customers:

    1.   
    Be
    crystal clear about your company’s core values and never deviate for financial
    gain.

    2.   
    Ensure
    your leaders behave consistently according to those values and allow no bad
    apples.

    3.   
    Hire
    and promote those that live the values – who you hire, promote and reward
    speaks volumes about you as a leader and what you really value.

    4.   
    Get
    the facts - monitor and measure your culture closely to make sure it reflects
    the values.

    5.   
    Tap
    into your customers and see your values through their eyes – does you brand
    live up to your customer commitments.


    Dr. Linda Sharkey is the co-author of The Future-Proof Workplace
    (Wiley, 2017), and widely acknowledged as one of the world’s prominent thought
    leaders on global leadership development. At the foundation of Dr. Sharkey’s
    success are years of in-the-trenches experience with some of the world’s
    largest and most admired companies, including GE where she was a Senior HR
    Executive, building high-performance teams and developing talent that drives
    productivity and company growth. As Chief Talent Officer and V.P. People
    Development at Hewlett Packard, Dr. Sharkey was responsible for driving the
    company’s talent management initiatives, performance management processes
    career development, executive staffing, coaching, employee engagement, and
    diversity and inclusion efforts. 

    « Were the Founding Fathers Great Leaders?
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